


I'm Not a Hero, I'm Just a Boy - a Stiles Stilinski/Teen Wolf meta

by hexthejinx



Category: My Chemical Romance, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Headcanon, I Don't Even Know, Meta, Stilinski Family Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-18
Updated: 2013-09-18
Packaged: 2017-12-26 22:59:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/971290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hexthejinx/pseuds/hexthejinx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Let me explain something at the very beginning: I’m a huge MCR fan, or rather, MCR-widow. *sniff* Their songs, even though they may seem creepy to somebody, with the ever-recurring death theme and other morbid references, speak to me in a way that not many songs do. Some time ago I was listening to “Welcome to the Black Parade” and I realized how well that song fits Stiles, as well as Teen Wolf in general. I know that for some unknown to me reason people often make fun of this song, but it’s a really good one, once you pay attention to the lyrics, not to mention the epic arrangement. Some parts of this meta are hugely based on my own headcanon, but it’s not all wishful thinking; the base and the main core is still the canon show. So yeah, if you’re up for some nerdy analysis/Stiles meta, come along. :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm Not a Hero, I'm Just a Boy - a Stiles Stilinski/Teen Wolf meta

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my [Tumblr](http://hexthejinx.tumblr.com/post/61534791050/im-not-a-hero-im-just-a-boy-a-stiles). DO NOT REPOST. The reblog button is there for a reason. Thanks.

Let me explain something at the very beginning: I’m a huge MCR fan, or rather, MCR-widow. *sniff* Their songs, even though they may seem creepy to somebody, with the ever-recurring death theme and other morbid references, speak to me in a way that not many songs do. Some time ago I was listening to “Welcome to the Black Parade” and I realized how well that song fits Stiles, as well as Teen Wolf in general. I know that for some unknown to me reason people often make fun of this song, but it’s a really good one, once you pay attention to the lyrics, not to mention the epic arrangement. Some parts of this meta are hugely based on my own headcanon, but it’s not all wishful thinking; the base and the main core is still the canon show. So yeah, if you’re up for some nerdy analysis/Stiles meta, come along. :)

**Disclaimer:** In not way I am underestimating the input and importance of the other TW characters, especially Scott, Allison, Lydia, Derek, Isaac, Chris and the Sheriff, but since this is Stiles meta, my focus is primarily on him.

I’m going to skip the very first sentence of the song, because that has more to do with my headcanon then actual events on the show, but I can easily imagine the Sheriff taking little Stiles to see a parade and having a father-son bonding moment. *enter Stilinski family feels here* Kay, moving on.

_He said, "Son when you grow up,_   
_would you be the savior of the broken,_   
_the beaten and the damned?"_

Little Stiles grows up. His best friend gets turned into a werewolf, and suddenly his life is full of werewolves, lizard people, druids and God knows what else. Some of them are his enemies, but with many others he forms a connection of some kind, often an actual friendship. Is Stiles their savior? In my opinion, he is. It’s far from him being a grand savior, a messiah kind of thing, true, but he’s certainly not a passive character. Whether it’s actually saving someone’s life, or saving a person from themselves and their demons, or coming up with a plan that saves everybody’s asses/makes things considerably easier, Stiles is always the man. And he does that almost every episode, since the very beginning. 

“The broken” - maybe it’s the Sterek shipper inside me talking, but that is when my mind always go to Derek. I don’t really think there’s a person on the show who deserves this name more. Yes, all the characters didn’t have it easy, each of them has a past or some issue that makes his or her life a bigger struggle than life is usual. But Derek... Derek had it the worst. After all, everything turns out to be his fault, duh. He has tons of issues, he trusts no one, he’s alone in the world (or so he thinks). I’m assuming for now on he has Cora to lean on, but we know that’s not going to be for long; she’s going to stay somewhere and he’s going to come back to Beacon Hills alone, again. Maybe he and Scott will get along and cooperate more, I’d love that, but I’m sure of one thing: he’s going to have Stiles. Either romantically or as a friend, that doesn’t really matter, but Stiles will be there for Derek, as he always is. Saving him literally or offering his support and friendship, like he already has done so many times.

Derek also fits in the two other terms perfectly, but I don’t think I need to elaborate on that.

“The beaten” - you can take it quite literally, as person who is hurt, bruised, bleeding or as a person beaten by life, tired and hopeless. Look at Scott in “Motel California”, doesn’t he fit that description nicely? Lydia, freaked out by her strange powers, with Stiles being the only person she can confide in and who believes her? The Sheriff, because hell, if losing his wife in the way he did isn’t a huge punch from life, than I don’t know what is. 

“The damned” - in a way, every werewolf is damned. Even if she or he is trying to live a good life, be a good person, that’s never going to happen. There always will be violence, loss and vicious supernatural creatures at every corner. You can’t stay pure and carefree in that kind of life, it’s just not possible. And every human who has came into contact with this world is damned too, because once you in, you can never check out. 

_He said "Will you defeat them,_   
_your demons, and all the non-believers,_   
_the plans that they have made?"_

Your demons. Every one has some and Stiles is no exception either. He watched his mom die, a young helpless boy, and what’s worse, for some reason he blames himself for her death. Can you imagine how much of a burden that must be? That particular demon chases him for the rest of his life. Makes him believe his father may blame him for the same thing as well, and at the same time, causes a huge fear of losing his father also, either to sickness or to something supernatural. Does Stiles crumble under that burden? No. He raises his head up and fights the demons with all he can. Sometimes he wins, sometimes they have the upper hand but he never gives up, not for real. Coming up in 3b, he will have some sort of “darkness around his heart”. How he is going to deal with that we don’t know, but I think one thing is sure - he will not go down without a fight.

“all the non-believers, the plans that they have made” - I feel like this part can be associated with citizens of Beacon Hills. They are non-believers, in a way, as they don’t know anything about supernatural world going on around them. They go on with their lives maybe not exactly carefree, but certainly clueless. Stiles may not care about those people specifically, as he always puts his family and friends first, like most people do in fact. Nonetheless, he doesn’t remain indifferent. While they go peacefully about their lives, Stiles is there, out in the night or in the day, with his friends/pack, protecting his little town as well as he can.

_Sometimes I get the feeling she's watching over me._  
 _And other times I feel like I should go._

We don’t know what Stiles’ beliefs are, if he believes in any kind of afterlife. But if he does, I like to think that he likes to imagine his mom watching over him from wherever she is. That maybe he draws strength from that knowledge.

Though, with so much self-doubt and depreciation as Stiles has, there are times that he doesn’t always feel that way. Not only because he feels guilty, but also because of the things he has done and the person he is becoming. As I mentioned earlier, you can’t stay pure once sucked into supernatural world. So maybe sometimes Stiles is scrutinizing his actions and thinks what would his mom say if she was still around. He knows that even though she would understand a lot, maybe more than his father does, she wouldn’t be proud of many things. He feels that maybe he should go. Either quit the supernatural part of his life, or maybe go in the literal sense of the world. But he can’t. Once you’re in, you can’t check out.

_And through it all, the rise and fall, the bodies in the streets._

The rise and fall. Things get better, things get worse. There are bodies in the streets, way too many killings, grim and gore that a teenager should witness or even be aware of. Despite it all, Stiles doesn’t stop, doesn’t quit, doesn’t crumble.

_And when you're gone we want you all to know._   
_We'll carry on,_   
_We'll carry on_   
_And though you're dead and gone believe me_   
_Your memory will carry on_

This one goes to all deceased people in Teen Wolf, all that were important to Stiles. His mom, Heather, Erica, Boyd, Deputy Tara and others. They won’t be forgotten. Some deaths may not have been acknowledged properly on the show, especially Erica’s and Boyd’s, but that doesn’t mean they went unnoticed, that the rest of the characters shook it off and went their own ways without glancing back. The memory of them will be carried on, and they will have influence on everyone’s lives, including Stiles’.

_A world that sends you reeling from decimated dreams_

How many of his dreams Stiles has to let go? How many he will have to let go in the future? We don’t know. Probably quite a lot, especially since he has been dragged into the werewolf shenanigans. 

_Your misery and hate will kill us all._

That line makes me stride away from Stiles and think about TW villains. Peter, Jennifer, Deucalion, even Matt. Less about Gerard, because we know very little about his background and reasoning for all his decisions. Whether he is redeemable in any way is up for debate; maybe he will be given some sort of justification, maybe not. But all the others fit the phrasing perfectly. Their hate sprouted from misery and mistreat. Their hate was the cause (whether direct or indirect) of death of many people, and most likely will kill some more.

_So paint it black and take it back_  
 _Let's shout it loud and clear_  
 _Defiant to the end we hear the call_  
(...)  
 _On and on we carry through the fears_

Loud and defiant to the end, isn’t it very much Stiles-like? Even when faced with an immediate threat, a person physically stronger than him or who has means with which they can cause him a lot of harm, Stiles doesn’t back down. He mouths off, he stands up tall, he taunts and insults. We can see that many times with Derek, Chris, Gerard, Scott’s father, Ethan. It doesn’t mean fear is a foreign concept to Stiles. Actually, one couldn’t be further from truth. Stiles is often scared, he admits himself that the feeling of fear is persistent and ever present. But he fights it off. He knows he can’t allow himself to show that fear, to act upon it, to let it engulf him. Stiles is brave and strong in a way that doesn’t include muscles, but a lionheart. 

_Disappointed faces of your peers_  
 _Take a look at me cause I could not care at all_

Peers, friends, family. Stiles may not be concerned about what other kids at school think about him, this is a very true statement. He tries to dance on the thin line between achieving the society approval and being an outcast, which he does quite well in my opinion. He’s that smart, geeky kid who can still get invited to somebody’s party if he wants to, he knows certain people when he needs favors. But when it comes to people Stiles cares about, things change, especially with his father. Stiles needs his praise, his blessing, a pat on his back. On the one hand, he’s aware that his father loves him, on the other he knows that raising him up alone isn’t an easy task for the Sheriff, never has been, and don’t forget about the guilt. He wants to take the burden off his dad’s shoulders, show him that he is not a failure of a son. Sometimes these are mundane things, like actually playing on the field and being good at it, sometimes it’s saving the town from another serial killer, but the gist stays the same. Remember, at Lydia’s party, Stiles was haunted by an image of his father being _disappointed_ in him, admitting how much of a nuisance he has been, how much he was the cause of all the bad things that happened to the Sheriff. That says it all.

And finally, the part that is the key part of the song, the same as it’s the key part of the boy nicknamed Stiles.

**_Do or die, you'll never make me_ **   
**_Because the world will never take my heart_ **   
**_Go and try, you'll never break me_ **   
**_We want it all, we wanna play this part_ **   
**_I won't explain or say I'm sorry_ **   
**_I'm unashamed, I'm gonna show my scar_ **   
**_Give a cheer for all the broken_ **   
**_Listen here, because it's who we are_ **   
**_I'm just a man, I'm not a hero_ **   
**_Just a boy, who had to sing this song_ **   
**_I'm just a man, I'm not a hero_ **

This pretty much sums up all that I was talking about before. Bravery, fighting off the fears, not falling victim to your past. Not being ashamed of who you are or of the choices you’ve made. But there’s also that one line, something that Stiles has said about himself, something that we all know is not true:

“I'm not a hero”

In the world of werewolves, kanimas, druids, superstrengths and superpowers, people with knives and guns, Stiles is probably the greatest hero of them all. He’s not powerful, he’s not skillful with weapons, he doesn’t have an extensive supernatural knowledge. He’s a teenager. A bit clumsy, attracting trouble everywhere he goes, not in the best physical shape. He doesn’t have a perfect GPA, he’s not that good at sports. His head is a dark place sometimes and he’s not free from his own private demons. He’s not perfect, he’s far from being the golden boy. What he has is a quick mind, resourcefulness, a few well-tried friends and a good, loyal heart. He takes what little he has, making the most of it, for the good of the others. He often doesn’t get anything for his efforts, except for even more bruises, literally and metaphorically, but that doesn’t stop him from going on, from trying once again, from saving yet another life. 

Stiles is the greatest hero in the show.


End file.
